5 Indispensable Nurse Manager Skills – 9/17/2013

Five Specific Management Skills You Can Acquire to Help Your Application Stand Out From the Rest

Since the announcement of a nursing shortage back in 2010, there has been a huge interest in the nursing field. As the population ages and nursing school students graduate, there is set to be an influx of applications at medical facilities and long-term care communities. This means nurses will need more skills in order to rise above the competition. More applicants equal more job openings for nurse managers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings for medical and health service managers is growing 22 percent faster than expected. If you're applying to be a nurse manager, there are five specific skills you can acquire to help your application stand out from the rest.

Computer Skills

Although some medical facilities are still using paper records, many are trying to eliminate paper and utilize online cloud storage options. Cloud storage is an internet-based storage program that allows documents to be uploaded, downloaded, printed and updated. Keeping electronic health records saves medical facilities money and makes accessing a patient's medical history much faster. According to HealthIT, electronic medical records boosted overall patient care by 74 percent and allowed 74 percent of physicians to access patient charts remotely. This means that nurse managers should be able to type fairly quickly and have the ability to navigate computer software via tablet or smartphone.

Financial Knowledge

As a nurse manager, you won't just be working with medical records, patients and nurses, you'll also be responsible for managerial duties, which includes managing revenue and expenses. You will need to understand:

Leadership Skills

A nurse manager must be seen as a leader by both her superiors and the nurses that she manages. Therefore, it's important to have knowledge of different leadership styles. One particulate style may work for your facility, but this doesn't mean it will work in every medical facility. Depending on the facility and your staff, you'll either be a democratic, affiliative, transformational or authoritarian leader. Democratic leaders work with the staff to create and reach goals; affiliative leaders put patient and staff needs first; a transformational leader works to develop each staff member; and a authoritarian leader issues orders and expects them to be carried out no question.

Communication Skills

This may go without saying, but it's important to have people skills in order to succeed in this position. You won't just be responsible for handling the nursing staff, you'll also have to deal with patients and their families. In order to combat compassion fatigue, you have to know how to deal with people effectively and not just feel compassion towards them. You'll also have to look after nurses who have witnessed tragedy or death. According to Nursing World, problems with compassion fatigue often emanate from a lack of basic communication skills.

Business Skills

As a manager, you'll need to know about the business side of things. A medical facility is still a business, so you'll be expected to know what influences decision making in the corporate tier. You'll also need to understand how these decisions affect the patients and staff. By having this knowledge, you'll be a better leader and a more efficient manager.

As you can see from the above entries, being a nurse manager is a very important position. Having up-to-date computer skills and being business savvy can help greatly in this position. Before applying for a career as a nurse manager, take a few refresher courses in computer science, finance and business.